Banjarmasin – The number of dead in the Siola Mitra Plaza shopping complex, in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, which burned in the riots which befell that town last Friday (23/5), continues to increase.
The Antara news agency mentions that until 18.00 on Sunday yesterday (25/5), already 131 totally burned corpses have been found on the second floor of the shopping complex.
Members of the Banjarmasin branch of the Red Cross Volunteer Corps mentioned that the additional burned skeletons were found on the second floor of the building, while it was stated that on the third and fourth floors no victims were found.
So the number of victims who died as a result of the Banjarmasin riots now totals 133 persons, because previously one person each was found burned to death respectively in the Sarikaya supermarket and the Lima Cahaya shop.
The burned corpses were transported to the hospital in waves. The three hospitals assigned to carry out autopsies on the skeletons of the victims are the Ulin General Hospital, the Banjarmasin Islamic Hospital, and the Dr Soeharsono Army Hospital.
"The autopsies are to find the identities of the victims, even the tiniest items, considering that the condition of the skeletons is no longer complete," said a member of the team of physicians of the Banjarmasin police. He could not yet make out who the burned corpses originally were, whether from visitors to Mitra Plaza, from a group of rioters, or from the employees.
To assist in the identification process, a Central Forensic Laboratory Team from Police Headquarters arrived in Banjarmasin yesterday.
Besides involving medical personnel from the City Resort Police and the South Kalimantan Regional Police, a number of members of the Banjarmasin branch of the Red Cross Volunteer Corps also assisted fulltime until the evacuation was completed. Besides finding skeletons and a few identity cards of the victims, duty functionaries also found a number of evidence items, in the form of sharp weapons, near the skeletons.
Meanwhile, as noted by Kompas, in the Ulin General Hospital, 65 persons are undergoing treatment for serious/minor burns, 19 persons in the Islamic hospital, and five in the Suaka Insan hospital. These are relatively young people of 16-28 years, all residents of Banjarmasin.
In the meantime, from Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan reports come about rumors that on 28 May riots will occur similar to Banjarmasin, namely that all shops, banks and government officies will be burned.
The South Kalimantan PPP Regional Directing Board General Chairman, Syafriansyah, has stated his concern about the 23 May incident which has claimed many victims. And the entire Regional Directing Board expressed its condolences to the families of the victims. But he rejected the opinion that the event was connected to the PPP mass. The PPP, he said, never made an instruction to carry out riots.
Gradually normal
The situation in Banjarmasin has gradually returned to normal. The community is resuming its activities, traffic beginning to run smooth. But the situation in Banjarmasin is still tense, the security apparatus still being on the alert.
Shops in the shopping zones of Sudimampir, Ujungmurung, Pasar Baru, and Pasar Lama are still closed. On the periphery of the town, beverage and snack stalls have started to display their wares. Every one and a half hour, security units go on patrol to various locations of the town, because there are still rumors that rioters will set fire to residences.
At night the atmosphere is oppressive, as there is an appeal not to go outdoors after 20.00. Banjarmasin then appears like a ghost town.
Still healthy
The General Chairman of the Indonesian Religious Teachers Council (MUI), KH Hasan Basri, disclosed in his residence yesterday that he was still safe and healthy, although he had been unable to leave the Hotel Kalimantan, in Banjarmasin, for five hours, and the greater part of the hotel had burned due to the riots. He returned to Jakarta on Saturday afternoon (24/5).
He was taken out of the hotel by a unit of Mobile Brigade agents around 21.00 on Friday, together with the national campaign executive Saadilah Mursyid, who is also Minister/Cabinet Secretary, and about 60 other persons.
He was in Banjarmasin to read out a special prayer at the final campaign round of the Functional Group. He had been invited by Saadilah Mursyid. Because of the riots, both the campaign and the prayer did not take place.
Concerning the riots, KH Hasan Basri said that the perpetrators were irresponsible infiltrators. He expressed his puzzlement why the historical churches in Banjarmasin were also burned. According to the scholar who originally came from Banjarmasin, all this while, interrreligious relations there have always been good.